On Tuesday morning, Fern is weighed and examined as usual, then brought to Dr. Vincent’s office. He is visibly wasting away but informs Fern she is on a formal two-week warning: in ten days, on August fourteenth, she will deliver. He excuses Fern from housework and orders minimal exertion, which makes Fern panic about how quickly Reverend Jerry will arrive after the births; Fern decides Holly must run away with the witches immediately.

That night, the narrative shifts to Hagar, who lies awake with Miriam, unsettled by recurring dreams of their dead mother knocking at a window while a train drowns out her warning. Convinced something is wrong because Miss Wellwood has been absent and behaving unlike herself, Hagar borrows Mr. Jean’s Plymouth and drives to Miss Wellwood’s house late at night to check on her.

Miss Wellwood refuses to let Hagar in and keeps the house dark, insisting she is only “under the weather.” Hagar persists until Miss Wellwood unlocks the door; inside, Hagar switches on the overhead light and discovers Miss Wellwood is heavily pregnant and in distress. Hagar rushes to fetch Miriam and her birthing bag, concluding that a fifty-eight-year-old Miss Wellwood’s sudden pregnancy must be unnatural.

Back at the house, Miss Wellwood tries to maintain control by demanding they use the guest room, not her bedroom. Miriam brews a labor tea, and Miss Wellwood drinks it, triggering violent contractions; as Hagar and Miriam work, Miss Wellwood’s terror and pain overwhelm her, and she fixates on hiding the “sin” from view. The ordeal forces her through vivid, shame-filled memories: witnessing her father’s brutality, being pressured into secrecy over her own past pregnancy and adoption, and later vowing to keep the Home afloat to prove herself.

When the delivery finally comes, Hagar asks for a bucket and removes the afterbirth in foul, clotted handfuls. Hagar glimpses the contents: a writhing nest of bone-white eels in black water; she carries them to the kitchen, crushes their skulls with a hammer, and flushes the bodies away. Miss Wellwood is left sobbing and screaming, haunted by the drumming sound of the creatures in the bucket.